Order of the National Green Tribunal in the matter of R.D. Singh Bandral Vs Union of India & Others dated 17/04/2023. The matter related to protecting the flora and fauna of the Kailash Kund-Seoz Dhar region by declaring the same as protected area and not to allow construction of the …
Fire erupted on Margalla Hills at two points on Wednesday, gutting a huge stretch of forest area, besides affecting flora and fauna. The fire that started in the afternoon was suppressed at around 6:30pm. “Our firefighters are there at the site. They have suppressed the fire and are busy in …
In the Neotropics the predominant pathway to intensify productivity is generally thought to be to convert grasslands to sown pastures, mostly in monoculture. This article examines how above-ground net primary productivity (ANPP) in semi-natural grasslands and sown pastures in Central America respond to rainfall by: (i) assessing the relationships between …
The area under forest cover in Karnataka has increased by four square kilometres, according to a latest report of the Forest Survey of India. It says the change has been noticed in the assessment year of 2009, compared to the survey carried out in 2008. The report was put in …
Plants are flowering faster than scientists predicted in response to climate change, research in the United States showed on Wednesday, which could have devastating knock-on effects for food chains and ecosystems. Global warming is having a significant impact on hundreds of plant and animal species around the world, changing some …
It is critical to assess the effectiveness of the tools used to protect endangered species. The main tools enabled under the U.S. Endangered Species Act (ESA) to promote species recovery are funding, recovery plan development and critical habitat designation. Earlier studies sometimes found that statistically significant effects of these tools …
Inspite of loss of many native flora from National Capital Territory (NCT) region, due to rapid urban growth, seven plant species that had not been hitherto known from this region, have been recorded.
The fire which ravaged several forests of the State this February was not an accident but a man-made act, according to the report of the Principal Chief Conservator of Forests (Wildlife). B K Singh, PCCF, in his report to the State government, has stated that a total of 3,624 hectares …
Guwahati, April 26: The forest advisory committee under the ministry of environment and forests has expressed “disappointment” on the report prepared by Water and Power Consultancy Services (India) Ltd (WAPCOS) and Nehu on cumulative impact assessment of dams on Siyom river saying it does not address major concerns. The issue …
The closed evergreen forest, called the shola, occurs above 1700 m in patches in the higher hills of South India in the Nilgiris, Annamalai and Palani hills. Sholas are patches of stunted evergreen tropical montane forests which attain a low height of about 16–20 m. These forests have high ecological …
Sal (Shorea robusta Gaertn. f.) is a dominant tree species, whose natural range lies between 20–32°N lat. and 75–95°E long., is spread across 10 million ha in India. Species distribution models predict the species geographic ranges from occurrence records and sitespecific environmental data. Here, we have (i) generated the 1960s …
Characterization, quantification and monitoring of biodiversity have been among the major challenges in biodiversity conservation. Until recently, spatial ecological database in India was almost non-existent. There is need of a robust and quality database of the biological diversity at species, community, ecosystem and landscape levels for identification of vulnerable ecosystems …
Pterocarpus santalinus L.f. (Red Sanders) is an endemic and endangered species largely confined to the southern portion of the Eastern Ghats, Andhra Pradesh, India. To understand its ecological and geographic distribution, we used ecological niche modelling (ENM) based on field sample-based distributional information, in relation to climatic and topographic datasets. …
Human-driven land-use and land-cover change (LULCC) is one of the most important causes for depletion of biodiversity. Few studies have been undertaken to spatially identify the natural areas prone to LULCC and hence biodiversity loss. This article describes a geospatial modelling technique using a combination of drivers of LULCC, spatial …
Light detection and ranging (LiDAR) remote sensing offers new and improved capabilities for vertical and structural characterization of objects, such as plant height and different growth stages/strata, etc. Climate change will change tree and plant growth conditions and thus will change forest structure and distribution, which can potentially be studied …
GUWAHATI, April 17 – Governor JB Patnaik today asked the authorities concerned to take urgent steps for making the Majuli Cultural Landscape Management Authority (MCLMA) fully functional. He also desired that the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) should submit the required number of copies of the island’s nomination dossier and …
Help of local self-government institutions to be sought The Kerala State Biodiversity Board (KSBB) is preparing to launch a campaign highlighting the need to prevent the destruction of plants during sanitation drives taken up by local self-government institutions.Board chairman R.V. Varma told The Hindu that directions would be communicated to …
Plant phenology models, especially leafing models, play critical roles in evaluating the impact of climate change on the primary production of temperate plants. Existing models based on temperature alone could not accurately simulate plant leafing in arid and semi-arid regions. The objective of the present study was to test the …
Climate models for the coming century predict rainfall reduction in the Amazonian region, including change in water availability for tropical rainforests. Here, we test the extent to which climate variables related to water regime, temperature and irradiance shape the growth trajectories of neotropical trees. We developed a diameter growth model …
The Survey of India, compiled in 1975, marked around 1,000 water bodies with unique aquatic flora and fauna in the state capital. In fact, Hyderabad then was called the “City of Lakes”. But that was then. When the HMDA did a count a year ago for the Lake Protection Committee, …